The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

FOREWORD
It is a distinct honor to write the foreword to this
volume dedicated to Ambassador James R. Lilley. I am
proud that the George H. W. Bush School of Government
and Public Service at Texas A&M University—
along with the National Bureau of Asian Research and
the U.S. Army War College—was one of the sponsoring
institutions of the September 2009 Conference on
the People’s Liberation Army. For the 11th consecutive
year, the event has been held at Carlisle Barracks,
Pennsylvania.
It is entirely appropriate that this book of papers
presented at the 2009 conference be dedicated to Jim’s
memory. He had been closely involved in this series
of conferences from the very start; indeed, Jim was the
driving force behind the instigation of this enterprise
back in the early 1990s. Jim believed that it was important
to gather leading specialists on China’s military
on a regular basis away from the hustle, bustle, and
hype of Washington for serious, objective, and indepth
analysis of the subject. Jim was a man ahead of
his time in that he recognized the importance of carefully
monitoring and documenting the modernization
of China’s military. Moreover, he was committed
enough to seek funding, commission experts to write
research papers, and ensure the proceedings were
published. The result is an entire bookshelf’s worth of
high quality edited volumes that are invaluable reference
works for policymakers, analysts, scholars, and
students.
This volume and many others stand as part of Jim
Lilley’s enduring legacy and as testament to the im-
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